


Yes She Means Everything To Me

by Awesome_Sauce432



Series: Beaujester Week 2019 [4]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Beaujester Week 2019, F/F, In Which I Carefully Avoid Saying The Word Die For The Drama, Love Confession In A Way, Resurrection Ritual, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-23 08:56:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20005654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awesome_Sauce432/pseuds/Awesome_Sauce432
Summary: Beau wasn’t strong. Not in the way Yasha and Jester were. She could hold her own but she was no juggernaut, relying on her speed and agility far more than strength. It was great in battles where she could zip across the battlefield and dodge hits, but it was awful when one of her friends got knocked down and she was the only one around to drag them out of the way.“Come on…” Grinding her teeth together, Beau strained under the weight of Jester, carrying her over her shoulder and having to lean against the wall cave walls just to stay upright, inhaling heavily before shouting out as loud as she could. “Caduceus!”For Day 4 Of Beaujester Week: Resurrection/Revivify





	Yes She Means Everything To Me

Beau wasn’t strong. Not in the way Yasha and Jester were. She could hold her own but she was no juggernaut, relying on her speed and agility far more than strength. It was great in battles where she could zip across the battlefield and dodge hits, but it was awful when one of her friends got knocked down and she was the only one around to drag them out of the way.

“Come on…” Grinding her teeth together, Beau strained under the weight of Jester, carrying her over her shoulder and having to lean against the wall cave walls just to stay upright, inhaling heavily before shouting out as loud as she could. “ _Caduceus!_ ”

Her voice echoed, sounding more and more broken and pained with each repetition. Stupid fucking caves with their stupid forks and turns and broken bridges that separated them from the rest of the Nein and hideouts of gnolls and poison spiders and _stupid_ things that attacked them.

Tears pricked the corner of her eyes, desperately holding on to Jester’s body. Her skin was cold and lifeless, her arms hanging limply and her blood adding to the stains on Beau’s clothes, a darker shade of red to mix with hers.

It had been stupid. So fucking stupid. One fucking spider managing to paralyse her for _six seconds_ was all it took and now Jester was-

“ _Caduceus!_ ” Her voice was raspy like it might give out at any moment, but she kept calling out. She didn’t have any healing potions. She didn’t have any _magic_. She had to find someone who did.

Her entire body burned, her legs shaking and her own injuries throbbing. But she couldn’t stop for a second, couldn’t pause to let herself take a breath. If she did, she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep going. She had to fix this. Had to fix her mistake. Just find Caduceus. She could do that. She had to do that.

“Beau!” A voice called back out to her, not the low smooth tone of Caduceus that she so desperately wanted to hear at that moment, but nonetheless welcome.

After a few moments, Nott darted around a corner, her eyes widening and ears pricking up in alarm at the sight of them. “Holy shit-Jester!”

Beau could feel her legs buckling beneath her, forced herself to keep staggering forwards. “Wh-where’s Cad?”

“I’m here.” Caduceus rounded the corner as well, urgency laced in his voice. Both him and Nott looked ragged, but healthy enough. “Is she-”

“Help her!” She snapped, finally falling to her knees, Jester’s body jolting forwards. She nearly fell flat on her face but the combined effort of Caduceus and Nott’s arms on her shoulders kept her upright, lingering for only a moment before their attention turned to Jester.

“Beau…” Nott hesitated as Caduceus and Beau laid the tiefling on the ground, Beau gently resting Jester’s head in her lap, brushing the hair from her face and ignoring how the world spun around her.

Caduceus said nothing, a hand over Jester’s chest for only a moment before he began rummaging through his bag, an uncharacteristically solemn expression on his face. After only a few seconds he pulled out three diamonds, laying them over Jester’s stomach, just beneath a hideous gash and pool of half-dried blood. Beau had to bite back a sob at the sight of them, the diamonds confirming what she’d already known but hadn’t admitted to herself.

“What about the others?” Nott asked, her voice panicked. She was kneeling down next to Beau, one hand gripping her arm and the one resting on Jester’s shoulder.

“I can wait for them to arrive but…” Caduceus glanced up, but Beau interrupted.

“No- we have to do it _now_ , we can’t wait-” It had already taken so much time for her to find him, she had been so slow, she couldn’t wait- “We can’t wait.”

Caduceus fixed her with a look, frowning ever so slightly before lowering his staff over the diamonds, a soft pink glow beginning to shine, the light spreading to the diamonds.

Everything seemed to hang in the air for a moment, all three of them watching the glow brighten, the diamonds almost seeming to pulse with the light. Caduceus’ hands were steady, exhaling slowly before lowering his staff ever so slightly, his voice low and calm as ever when he spoke, his other hand fishing around in his pockets.

“Alright Miss Jester. I apologise I wasn’t there to assist you before it came to this. But we love you. Your journey with us isn’t finished yet.” He pulled out a shiny rock, dark but with bands of bright blue, tucking it into one of Jester’s hands and closing her fingers over it. “I found this earlier today, and it made me think of you. I think you’d like it.”

As soon as the last syllable left his mouth, there was another pulse of pink light, washing over them like a light breeze. Caduceus glanced up at Beau and Nott, an expectant and reassuring look on his face.

Beau opened her mouth, but all words died in her throat before she could say them, even if she could think of something to say. It was _Jester_. How could she condense what she felt about her into only a few short words? How could she tell her how much she meant to her, how much it meant to her to have her by her side?

For a moment there was silence, before Nott cleared her throat, her voice shaky. “I-I don’t have anything to give you right now. If you can hear me. I don’t know if you can hear me. But if you can, please come back. You’re one of my best friends and everything would be so much sadder without you around.”

Beau wiped tears from her eyes, looking to her side to see Nott still holding onto Beau with one hand, an anchor for both of them, nails digging into her skin but neither of them caring. She looked up to see Caduceus watching them both, not crying but focused, his hovering hands wavering ever so slightly as the spell continued.

“There’s so many cases we haven’t solved yet. It just wouldn’t be fair to do them without you.” Nott leaned forwards, finally loosening her grip from Beau’s arm to press a light kiss to Jester’s forehead, lasting barely a second before she pulled away, falling back into a sitting position and sniffling.

There was another pulse of light, and it felt like the entire cave they were in was humming with energy, a slowly building crescendo in the back of Beau’s mind. The walls were lit up in the pink glow, Caduceus’ hands seeming to shimmer as he held them above the diamonds. If Beau looked closely, she could almost see an outline of another set of hands, clasped over his. But then she blinked, and it was gone.

Her heart was pounding in her chest, the weight of Jester’s head heavy in her lap, her fingers running through Jester’s hair. She sucked in a breath, her mind still terribly blank of something to say. But now, somehow, she found herself speaking, words spilling out like water.

“I’m sorry, Jes. I’m so sorry.” There was too much she wanted to say. Too many things she couldn’t even describe. “I’ve done so many things in my life. I’ve seen so much stuff, met so many people. But none of them can compare to you. There’s no one else I’d want as my roommate, there’s no one else I’d want to fight beside. There’s no one else I’d want to wake up to every day more than you.”

Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper, brushing back loose strands of her off her forehead. Jester’s face had escaped injury, her expression peaceful but blank. It was just wrong. Even when she was asleep, Jester’s face was never blank. She was always moving, animated, always full of life. To see the exact opposite was just heartbreaking all over again.

“We love you, Jester. I love you.”

Energy buzzes on the edges of her fingers, and she can’t tell if it's from the ritual or just her own body shaking, but Beau leans down anyway, gently kissing Jester’s cheek. Her skin is cold, even colder than usual, and when Beau straightened up again, she stroked a gentle circle in the spot with her finger, whispering, “I’ll give you a better kiss when you wake up.”

She can feel Nott squeeze her arm, the humming energy of the ritual seeming to grow more and more powerful with each passing second. Caduceus has closed his eyes, and at and around Jester’s feet are Yasha, Caleb, and Fjord, watching in stunned silence. Beau hadn’t even noticed their arrival. Together, the six of them shield Jester’s body from the outside, a protective cocoon waiting to see what would happen next.

All at once, the humming stops.

Time itself seems to stop.

They held their breaths, no one moving even a muscle.

Without warning, the diamonds cracked, breaking into hundreds of thousands of tiny pieces that sparkled in the pink light of the spell, casting mottled shadows on the faces of the rest of the Mighty Nein. Spinning and spiralling in the air the diamond shards seemed to glow themselves.

Then, just as quickly as it started, it stopped. The shards dropped as if cut from hanging strings, scattering over Jester’s chest and arms. The light snapped off, plunging them into darkness. Only a moment passed before four globules of light took their place, Caleb’s face tight as they drifted over the group.

A sharp, gasping inhale, followed by six simultaneous heavy sighs of relief.

Jester’s eyes snapped open, one hand racing to her forehead while the other went to her chest. “Oh wow- I-”

Beau helped pull her up into a sitting position, Nott worming her way into a hug while Caduceus didn’t waste any time unloading at least three healing spells into her, pink light beginning to glow in the cavern again.

“What the- Beau?” Jester twisted her head around until she found Beau. “Are you okay?”

Beau had to stifle a short laugh at that, wrapping one arm tightly around Jester while Caduceus subtly laid a hand on her shoulder, the familiar and welcome sensation of healing magic settling into her bones. “I’m fine. It’s fine now.”

“Are you sure? You were like, _down_ , last I remember.” Jester was frowning, shifting before wincing a little. “Ooh, I feel like _shit_!”

She held an arm over her stomach before glancing down, wiping away loose shards of diamond that had stuck on creases in her dress. “Diamonds… did I…?”

Jester looked around at them, seeming to take in the red-rimmed eyes and heavy shoulders for the first time. “Oh.” She looked down at the wound on her chest again, just below her collarbones. Mostly healed by now, so much so that if it weren’t for the blood, you’d never know it had been fatal.

“Don’t worry, Miss Jester.” Caduceus picked up the rock that he’d placed in her hand off the ground where it had dropped when she’d first woken it up, passing it back to her. “Beau found us very quickly to do the ritual.”

“We’re getting out of these mines now.” Fjord was running a hand through his hair, breathing deeply. “I’m not risking staying in here one second longer.”

There were murmurs of agreement, and they all began to shift around, preparing to get up and move out. Beau leaned forwards and hugged Jester a little tighter, feeling like her heartbeat was finally starting to slow down again. “I’m so sorry.”

Jester just shuffled around to hug Beau back, a thoughtful look on her face. “Don’t be sorry Beau. I… I think I remember a bit. You helped bring me back.”

“Nott and Caduceus did too.” Beau murmured, letting Jester go and helping her to her feet, most of the others either huddled close or cautiously looking ahead, making sure they weren’t going to run into any more danger.

“I don’t remember either them promising me a kiss, though.”

Beau started, looking at Jester only to see a slight smile on her face and a twinkle in her eyes. Gods, Beau had thought she’d never see that again. And who was she to break a promise?

“I guess you’re right.”

**Author's Note:**

> look i was gonna do fake dating but i don't think i can ever top my Annual Dance fic in terms of Fake Dating Shenanigans(TM) so here we are
> 
> Also this is officially the one year anniversary of the first chapter of the first critical role fic I ever uploaded! it feels like it's been a lot longer lmao
> 
> Also also i finally jumped on the 'Use A Song Lyric From She By Dodie As A Title' train and im pleased with myself


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